Labyrinth • Roberto Chabet

Feb 12 to Mar 2, 2013 • Finale Art File

The concept of Labyrinth takes off from the Greek myth of King Minos, who is fabled to have built a maze to hold the Minotaur, half-man and half-beast, eventually slain by the Athenian hero Theseus. Lost in the labyrinth with the monster lurking within, Theseus was helped by the goddess Ariadne who offered him the threads of her robes as a lifeline to find his way out of the darkness.

Roberto Chabet’s Labyrinth takes off from this mythic act of succour. The exhibition of installation pieces spans Finale’s three connected gallery spaces. The works range from an actual labyrinth constructed out of hollow blocks and glass shards; a red nylon cord descending from the ceiling and winding up into a pool of red tangles; and a suite of red fluorescent light arrows pointing in all directions.

Combined, the different installation pieces in Labyrinth serve as symbols for the winding journeys that viewers of art undergo in the process of encountering the work. The journey itself may often be long, exhaustive and winding; on the other hand, it is also a process of discovering new paths and dead ends.

Chabet reconstructs the idea of a labyrinth as a “sacred space, which we enter in order to experience the epiphanies” that the process of seeking and looking makes possible. The labyrinth is transformed from a man-made structure to a concept that mirrors the act of searching.